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EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION . THE CASE OF PAKISTAN. CORPORATE REQUIREMENT. Reduce costs of production: (a) Set-up production facilities in low wage economies; (b) Use suppliers who can minimize cost of production; (c) Ensure maximum utilization of informal labor. Cost Reduction.
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EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION THE CASE OF PAKISTAN
CORPORATE REQUIREMENT • Reduce costs of production: (a) Set-up production facilities in low wage economies; (b) Use suppliers who can minimize cost of production; (c) Ensure maximum utilization of informal labor.
Cost Reduction • Leads to employment of cheap (women, children) and un-organized (no trade unions) labor; • Leads to reduction in facilities provided to the labor; • Leads to further exploitation of the poor by threat of withdrawal of production from the area.
Effect on the Poor • Maximum utilization of informal labor • Minimum wages: take-it or leave it attitude • Lack of facilities for travel to/from work, food, mothers with infants, maternity leave, or even accident compensation.
Examples • Football and leather industry Nike Tannery pollution • Surgical equipment industry Child Labor
What is the solution? • Make “protection of the poor” good for business • Promote moral awareness of the consumers: “blood diamonds” and “Conflict free certification”. • Provide incentives for protection of the poor • Requires legislation and change in attitude
What the Governments need to do • Effectively implement labor laws protecting the rights of the poor • Provide tax incentives for socially beneficial corporate expenditure • Require social responsibility as part of sovereign concessions (replicate oil & gas, mineral policies in telecom, banking, pharmaceutical and other sectors)
Role of Multilateral Agencies • Soft loans to NGOs and Governments for raising awareness of rights • Soft tied-loans for corporations promoting and/or adopting policies which protect the rights of the poor • Create a market similar to those for carbon credits/CERs
Role of NGOs • Advocate for the rights of the workers • Increase awareness among the workers • Advise on and monitor the implementation of socially beneficial policies • Coordinate and direct the efforts of the Government in Public-Private Partnership Projects like the Kasur Tannery Waste Management Agency
Conclusion • Effects of globalization are more beneficial than detrimental to the rights of the poor • It is not globalization per se which is at fault: it is the inability of the developing countries to protect their poor from the profit maximizing corporate policies of the developed countries